Reporter Sloan Smith interviews Adelaide Village resident William Romer yesterday, who is still without power. (Photo: Torrell Glinton)

As many residents throughout New Providence approach nearly two weeks without power supply, Lorian Williams, 42, a resident of Adelaide Village, which is still without power, said she worries about her 77-year-old diabetic mother whose medication must be kept cold.

"I keep it on ice, and we must have ice," Williams said yesterday.

"It's a must we have ice, seeing that we just got the generator and we only really run it at night, and I don't really hook up the fridge. So I have to keep that cool because she has to have that twice a day.

"It's hectic, It's very hectic with the light still being out."

As of Sunday, Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) said it had restored power to 80 percent of its residential customers on New Providence.

Williams said she believes that the community of Adelaide has somehow been forgotten in the effort to restore power to the island.

"A lot of times they say we [are] behind God's back, so I feel with the power not being restored right now that's how we are, because we left here Tuesday (before the hurricane) and we came back Saturday and the current has still been out," she said.

"They ain't checking.

"If you look, we still have poles down; poles still leaning. They brought the poles but they never came back.

"They forgot about us. I don't know if it's where we are low lying and we have a lot of homes that are flooded.

"I don't know if they are waiting for the homes to dry. I don't know. I don't know what to say, it's frustrating."

Several other residents also expressed that they feel that they have been forgotten and no one cares.

"Nobody really gives a damn," said Anita Wheeler.

"[It's] horrible, absolutely horrible.

"We've had very little help from anybody, and we are like an outside family that no [one] really cares about. We feel very alone."

Wheeler, who's been living in Adelaide for 18 years, called on the government to do more, adding that living without power for so long hasn't been easy.

James Dupuch, a resident of Adelaide for four years, said he believed Adelaide would have been a first priority, given that it's one of the oldest communities on New Providence and was one of the hardest hit by Matthew. But obviously, he said, he was wrong.

"Everyone seems to be turned on," Dupuch said.

"I mean there's lights down on Adelaide Road, but we are still off and it doesn't look like anything else is going to happen anytime soon."

Valceron Smith, another Adelaide resident, and a father of three young girls, said for him, having to frequently purchase fuel for his generator has been one of the hardest things with the power outage because it adds costs to his family's budget.

"How we have to feed off this generator now buying gas every day... is a total killer to me, because at the end of the day I still have to end up pinching a little piece of money to make sure they (his kids) have something to eat and provide something for my wife and everybody else."

William Romer, a lifelong resident of Adelaide, said his children have been impacted the most.

"They can't even really have a full steam breakfast in the morning," Romer said.

"It's simple. We have no water; water goes with electricity.

"For us to have water, we have to go to the government pump out there, but when that's off, certain people have to come around and maybe bring you some water.

"It's difficult. I already experienced it like this before, but to know how my family is experiencing it, it's hard for them, it's hard for me. They don't know what it is to have no electricity.

"It's difficult, you know."

Prime Minister Perry Christie, along with Michael Halkitis, Shane Gibson, Kenred Dorsett and other MPs toured Adelaide Village yesterday assessing the damage and speaking to residents.

Arnette Ingraham, corporate communications manager at Bahamas Power and Light, said last night a team conducted an assessment of Adelaide yesterday morning and reported that it would take two days to fully restore power in the area.
According to Ingraham, BPL will start work in Adelaide this afternoon.

Sloan Smith, Guardian Staff Reporter

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